Succulents are beautiful in a bouquet.
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Succulents & Cactus
As a Crown Garden Club member, it was my turn to do the library flowers for our public library. My philosophy about floral design is that I try not to buy any arranging materials; instead, if possible, I try to harvest everything from my garden. As usual, succulents rule the day, mainly because I have so many of them growing around the yard. I love designing with succulents, but I do get counted against in the flower show because I’m not using “traditional” materials. To that rule, I say poo-poo.
Here’s my finished product for today’s design. I wouldn’t say it’s my best design, but I’m happy. Really, how can you go wrong with succulents! I used aeoniums, aloes, and a couple of echeverrias for accent, arranged in an old trophy I bought at a garage sale. When I bring the arrangement home, it will go on display in the house for another month or two, then I’ll replant the pieces out in the yard.
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I love this time of year. Aloe ‘arborescens’ are blooming all over the place. I was driving down the Silver Strand on Thursday and there are massive clumps blooming in the median divide.
On the beach walkway in front of the Hotel del Coronado cottages, the color of the aloe blooms adds a lot to their succulent landscaping.
I love the way the torches sprout up as tight buds. Can you tell which side gets the sun? That’s the side that will start blooming first. (An observation I made last year when I apparently had way too much time on my hands, or was procrastinating on another project, which was more likely the case!)
In my own garden, the aloes are about a month behind schedule, so I’ll have blooms out there in January. Can’t wait!
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I’ve had a scroungy looking succulent wreath that eventually got taken down a while back and laid on some dirt in the corner of the garden. Being on the ground, getting regular water, set the stage for flourishing and gave the wreath a new life.
I couldn’t figure out what to do with the wreath due to the rooting out the back. but the dilemma was solved when I emptied out a pot last week because it turned out to be the perfect size for the wreath. I put enough dirt in the pot so I could drop the wreath in and add enough dirt to fill the middle of the wreath and top dress the wreath a little.
Now I’ve got a beautiful pot of mixed succulents, perfect for cuttings!
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I am proud to report that I have not one, not two, not three, but FOUR different stapelia succulents blooming at the same time. I wish I could tell you my secret to making this happen, but I don’t have a clue.
I ordered the pictures of the flowers from smallest to largest.
The little flower above is no bigger than a dime. Teeny-tiny with a little fuzz.
This one is one of my favorites. How can you not love the perfection of nature’s work?! The flower is about two inches across and has a thick, fleshiness to it, but no fuzz.
This flower is a pretty color of maroon and about 6 inches across. It’s a bit fuzzy, as you can see. It’s the stinkiest of all four of my flowers and the flies love it!
This one is Stapelia gigantea, and is the biggest of the blooms, 10 inches across. It smells, but not too much. I think I like the flower bud before it opened better than the flower. It looks like a bell. The bud looked ready to pop for two weeks. I have never seen this particular plant bloom before so it is very satisfying to see multiple buds developing on the plant.
Stapelia succulents can be identified by the four-sided fleshy leaves. My plants’ leaves range from pencil width in the smallest one to over an inch on the biggest plant. I grow my stapelias in bright light but not much direct sun unless in the morning or late afternoon. I water the plants regularly, letting them dry out between waterings, but not to the point of stress. Other than than, no special treatment. I’m assuming that the weather stars aligned perfectly to produce all the blooms this year, or maybe I lucked out and found each plant’s happy place. Either way, it has been satisfying to see such a range of interesting flowers.
And, on a final note, my night blooming cereus is on Round 3 since May of a blooming cycle. I found this early this morning.
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I have a love/hate relationship with strawberry pots.
The ‘love side’ – these pots always tug at my practical side. “Hey, multiple plants growing from one pot. Cool!” or “Vertical garden – yes!”
The ‘hate’ side – I buy a pot, plant it with strawberries, then watch the little plants die a slow death. The final result is a pot that ends up in a corner of the garden, filled with dirt, being non-functional.
But, this story ends well. Succulents save the day!
This little pot is my newest project.
Also, one of my newer creations. I made another attempt at planting strawberries from all the runners coming out of my strawberry bed, but they all died from not getting enough moisture. The strawberry plant on top is doing fine, so maybe that will be the solution. I’ll water from the top and the succulents down below will get enough moisture from the trickle-down.
This pretty pot was two dollars at a garage sale. Pretty, isn’t it?
This one is coming along nicely. I planted it about a year ago.
This is my best result so far. It’s been growing for almost two years. I’ve been able to harvest from this pot for other succulent projects.
So, all’s well that ends well. Love is in the air…. 
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